title: The impact of nail disorders on quality of life.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Nail disorders have considerable psychological impact and may limit activity by impairing functionality of both fingers and toes.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the impact of nails disorders on quality of life (QoL).
  
  
  METHODS
  1063 patients with nail disorders completed an anonymous nail-specific QoL questionnaire consisting of 24 and 16 questions, respectively, for fingernails and toenails with five possible responses to each question. A score of 1-5 was given to each response and the final score was adjusted on a percentile scale. The subjects were classified in groups according to nail disorders. Statistical analysis was carried out using T-test to compare the means between two groups and ANOVA analysis of variance to compare the impact of quality of life on the different types of nail disorders.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Comparison between groups showed a statistically significant higher impact for trauma, onychomycosis, other infections, structure abnormalities, psoriasis, other inflammatory diseases and paronychia and a lower impact for chromonychias and tumours. QoL was statistically significantly more affected in patients having multiple nails involved, women, and in people aged 60-79 years. There was no statistically significant difference on the QoL impact between patients having only fingernails or only toenails involved.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Even though published literature tends to focus on the impact of nail psoriasis and onychomycosis on QoL, other nail disorders cause similar frustration to patients. A possible explanation for this is that appearance of the nail has a more significant impact on QoL than the severity of the disorder.
authors.affiliation: University of Athens Medical School, 2nd Department of Dermatology, Attikon Hospital, 1 Rimini str, 12462 Xaidari, Greece.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Belyayeva
authors.affiliation: University of Athens Medical School, 2nd Department of Dermatology, Attikon Hospital, 1 Rimini str, 12462 Xaidari, Greece.
authors.forename: Stamatis
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gregoriou
authors.affiliation: Athens University of Economic and Business, Patision 76, 10434 Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chalikias
authors.affiliation: University of Athens Medical School, 2nd Department of Dermatology, Attikon Hospital, 1 Rimini str, 12462 Xaidari, Greece.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kontochristopoulos
authors.affiliation: University of Athens Medical School, 2nd Department of Dermatology, Attikon Hospital, 1 Rimini str, 12462 Xaidari, Greece.
authors.forename: Elma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Koumantaki
authors.affiliation: University of Athens Medical School, 2nd Department of Dermatology, Attikon Hospital, 1 Rimini str, 12462 Xaidari, Greece.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Makris
authors.affiliation: University of Athens Medical School, 2nd Department of Dermatology, Attikon Hospital, 1 Rimini str, 12462 Xaidari, Greece.
authors.forename: Ioanna
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Koti
authors.affiliation: University of Athens Medical School, 2nd Department of Dermatology, Attikon Hospital, 1 Rimini str, 12462 Xaidari, Greece.
authors.forename: Alexandros
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Katoulis
authors.affiliation: University of Athens Medical School, 2nd Department of Dermatology, Attikon Hospital, 1 Rimini str, 12462 Xaidari, Greece.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Katsambas
authors.affiliation: University of Athens Medical School, 2nd Department of Dermatology, Attikon Hospital, 1 Rimini str, 12462 Xaidari, Greece.
authors.forename: Dimitris
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rigopoulos
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009260:Nail Diseases / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: nail disorders; nail infections; nail psoriasis; nail tumours; onychomycosis; paronychia; quality of life